Slackware 14.1 to 14.2 Upgrade HOWTO
This document explains how to upgrade from Slackware 14.1 to Slackware 14.2.
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For details of important changes from Slackware 14.1 to 14.2, see the file
'CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT'. Thanks to Robby Workman for help with this.
Before you begin, I would strongly recommend making a backup of your
system, or, if not the entire system, at least the /etc directory. You
might find that you need to refer to a few things after the upgrade
process is complete. Back it up, or take your chances.
OK, now that everything is safely backed up, let's proceed. :-)
To do this, you'll need the Slackware 14.2 packages. If these are on a CD,
create a new directory to mount the CD on so that it doesn't get in the way
during the upgrade:
mkdir /packages
mount /dev/cdrom /packages
The packages don't have to be on a CD-ROM, as an alternative you could
copy the slackware directory (the one with the various package
subdirectories in it, basically the "slackware" or "slackware64" directory
from the install disc) to someplace like /root/slackware/. The important thing
is that you know where the slackware packages directory is. We'll use
/root/slackware in the following examples.
0. Put your machine in single-user mode:
telinit 1
Note that this is _not_ strictly required, and there have been reports
of success remotely upgrading machines that are still in multiuser
mode. However, more things can go wrong in multiuser, so especially
if you're considering a remote upgrade in multiuser mode, you might
want to clone the machine locally so that you can do a test run to
uncover any problem areas and come up with workarounds for them.
1. Upgrade your glibc shared libraries. This is important, or things
might go haywire during the next part of the upgrade:
upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/glibc-solibs-*.txz
2. Upgrade your package utilities and related tools:
upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/pkgtools-*.txz
upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/tar-*.txz
upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/xz-*.txz
upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/findutils-*.txz
3. Upgrade everything else (and install new packages):
upgradepkg --install-new /root/slackware/*/*.t?z
If you wish to upgrade everything except for the KDEI language
packs for KDE (these take a lot of space and can be dealt with
after the main upgrade more quickly and easily), running this
script in the "slackware" directory will do the trick:
#!/bin/sh
for dir in a ap d e f k kde l n t tcl x xap xfce y ; do
( cd $dir ; upgradepkg --install-new *.t?z )
done
4. Remove obsolete packages. The CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT file should have a
list of these. You may also wish to go into /var/log/packages and take
a look at the package list:
ls -lt | less
You may spot some old, obsolete, or discontinued packages. If so,
you can remove these using 'removepkg'. This command will get rid of
the packages which became obsolete since Slackware 14.1:
removepkg ConsoleKit apmd bluez-hcidump cxxlibs foomatic-filters \
gnome-icon-theme imlib kdeadmin kdenetwork kdesdk kdetoys kwallet \
lesstif libelf libjpeg libxfcegui4 networkmanagement obex-data-server \
obexfs open-cobol oxygen-gtk3 phonon-mplayer phonon-xine pil portmap \
procps qca-cyrus-sasl qca-gnupg qca-ossl udev xchat xf86-input-aiptek \
xf86-video-modesetting xfce4-mixer xfce4-volumed xfwm4-themes
5. Fix your config files. Some of the config files in /etc are going to
need your attention. You'll find the new incoming config files on
your system with the ".new" extension. You may need to fill these in
with information from your old config files and then move them over.
Feel brave? You can use this little script to install most of the
.new config files in /etc. If you've made any local changes you'll
need to add them to the newly installed files. Your old config files
will be copied to *.bak. Anyway, it might be an easier starting
point. Here it is:
#!/bin/sh
cd /etc
find . -name "*.new" | while read configfile ; do
if [ ! "$configfile" = "./rc.d/rc.inet1.conf.new" \
-a ! "$configfile" = "./rc.d/rc.local.new" \
-a ! "$configfile" = "./group.new" \
-a ! "$configfile" = "./passwd.new" \
-a ! "$configfile" = "./shadow.new" ]; then
cp -a $(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev) \
$(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev).bak 2> /dev/null
mv $configfile $(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev)
fi
done
You might also wish to move these config files over:
/usr/lib*/man.conf.new
/usr/share/vim/vimrc.new
6. If you use a non-en_US language pack for KDE and you already have it
installed, then you may upgrade it by moving into the slackware/kdei
directory and using this command:
upgradepkg --install-new *--*t?z
If your language has been added to KDE since Slackware 14.1, you'll
need to install it using installpkg, or upgradepkg --install-new.
Typically you'll need to make sure that you have installed the
slackware/kdei packages for kde and calligra (if you use those).
7. IMPORTANT! *Before* attempting to reboot your system, you will need
to make sure that the bootloader has been updated for the new kernel!
First, be sure your initrd is up to date (if you use one). You can
build a new initrd automatically by running the
mkinitrd_command_generator.sh script.
If you're running the 64-bit kernel, or the 32-bit single processor
kernel, this is the command to use:
/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -k 4.4.14 | bash
If you're using the 32-bit SMP kernel, use this command:
/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -k 4.4.14-smp | bash
If you use LILO, make sure the paths in /etc/lilo.conf point to a valid
kernel and then type 'lilo' to reinstall LILO. If you use a USB memory
stick to boot, copy the new kernel to it in place of the old one.
8. Return to multi-user mode:
telinit 3
9. Reboot to start using the new kernel.
At this point you should be running Slackware 14.2. :-)
I wish everyone good luck with this!
---
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@slackware.com